Recognize that not everyone will contact you by email
Turn all of these efforts into a regular work habit
Addendum: Keeping your existing customers happy
Identify this movie
Use word of mouth
Birth announcement
Current customers
Staying in touch
Birth announcement
“I’m embarking on a new career move, starting a small statistical consulting business, P.Mean Consulting. I’m so excited. Wish me luck.” Send to
Family,
Friends,
Colleagues from your former job
Former professors from your degree program
Use email and/or social media
Send only once
Thank you note
“Thanks for involving me in this interesting project. If you have anything similar in the future, I’d love to continue our collaboration.”
Send one week/one month after final payment
Send only once
Stay in regular touch
No direct solicitation
“I heard that your youngest is leaving for college. What’s it like being an empty nester?”
“I bet your whole town is celebrating with two straight Super Bowl victories.”
“I saw this NYTimes article about long COVID, and it reminded me of your work.”
Not too often, every six months?
Business cards
Hand out at every event
“Good to chat with you. Here’s a card. Call me or email me if you want to talk some more.”
Write something on the back
“Ethics code for research”
Take their cards and follow-up
Business card = one (but only one) free spam
“I just wanted to say again how much I enjoyed your talk”
Email ticklers
Signature file
“New career! P.Mean Consulting”
“P.Mean Consulting. Now in our second year of business”
Short and sweet
Configure your email name
Not “Steve Simon”, use “Steve Simon, P.Mean Consulting”
Break #1
What you have learned
Use word of mouth
What’s coming next
Give away free samples of your work
Any questions?
What have you done in this area that you found helpful?
Identify this movie
Give away free samples of your work
Writing
Books
Newsletters
Blog posts
Talks
For statisticians
For non-statisticians
Let others promote your work
Write a book
Not easy and not for everyone
Much greater impact than journal articles
Self publishing option?
Publish a newsletter
Use an established vendor
Formal unsubscribe mechanism
Publish regularly
Monthly or less often
Create a blog
Similar to newsletters
Indexed by search engines
More impact than journal article
Publish regularly, but not too often
Fresh content
Recommendations
Stay away from politics
Give talks
Client audiences
Statistical audiences
Other statisticians will often send you referrals.
Let others promote your work, 1 of 4
Let others promote your work, 2 of 4
…He currently runs a small consulting business, P.Mean Consulting, as a sole proprietorship…
Let others promote your work, 3 of 4
…He is president of the Kansas City R Users Group and is looking for speakers for future Zoom meetings…
Let others promote your work, 4 of 4
His current research interests include using Bayesian models to forecast patient accrual in clinical trials and examining data sharing practices in peer-reviewed articles.
Break #2
What you have learned
Give away free samples of your work
What’s coming next
Consider volunteering
Any questions?
What have you done in this area that you found helpful?
Identify this movie
Volunteering
Similar to giving away free samples
Officer in an organization
Committee work
Pro bono work
Strive for high visibility work
Don’t volunteer unless you can do a good job
Officer in an organization
Client-rich organizations
ASA offices
Related positions
Committee work
Pro bono work
Statistics Without Borders
Steve Pierson, Gary Shapiro, Jim Cochran, Fritz Scheuren
Stats4Good
David Corliss
Informal efforts
Find a cause you believe in
Never offer free consulting to a potential paying client
Strive for high visibility work
Some volunteer work is largely anonymous
Peer review
Grants committees
Don’t voluneer unless you can do a good job
Avoid efforts that you hate
Avoid efforts you don’t have time for
Break #3
What you have learned
Consider volunteering
What’s coming next
Recognize that not everyone will contact you by email
Any questions?
What have you done in this area that you found helpful?
Identify this movie
Recognize that not everyone will contact you by email
Falling out of fashion with younger generations
Social media
LinkedIn
X (Twitter)
Accept payment from alternate sources
Standard for most is invoicing
Alternatives
Paypal, Venmo
Break #4
What you have learned
Recognize that not everyone will contact you by email
What’s coming next
Turn all of these efforts into a regular work habit
Any questions?
What have you done in this area that you found helpful?
Identify this movie
Turn all of these efforts into a regular work habit
Regularity is critical
Choose a primary effort
Secondary efforts only support your primary effort
Keep the time commitments manageable
Break #5
What you have learned
Turn all of these efforts into a regular work habit
What’s coming next
Addendum: Keeping your existing customers happy
Any questions?
What have you in this area that you found helpful?
Identify this movie
Keep your existing customers happy
Three things to be careful about
Time
Money
Quality
More ways to keep your existing customers happy
Bill regularly
Avoid hobby-shopping
Be honest about your limitations
Make them less dependent on you
Use word of mouth
Give away free samples of your work
Consider volunteering
Recognize that not everyone will contact you by email
Turn all of these efforts into a regular work habit
Keep your existing customers happy”
Summary
What you have learned
Use word of mouth
Give away free samples of your work
Consider volunteering
Recognize that not everyone will contact you by email
Turn all of these efforts into a regular work habit